T. K. Rex is a science fiction and fantasy author from the western states, whose short stories inhabit the sun-dappled, half-smoldering forest between nature, technology, and humanity. Their debut collection, The Wildcraft Drones, will be available in 2026 from Stelliform Press.

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T. K.'s stories can be read in Asimov's, Escape Pod, Strange Horizons and more than thirty other publications. They're an alumni of Taos Toolbox (2023), Futurescapes (2019) and Clarion (2020 2021 2022); a member of SFWA, the Authors Guild and the Writers Grotto; a twenty-year denizen of San Francisco; and a friendly acquaintance of spiders. When they're not writing, they can be found sharing mushrooms, street art, and anarchist ruminations on Instagram; high-fiving their cats; or recklessly using semi-colons just to feel alive. Past iterations of T. K. include tech drone, ad creative, science communicator, National Park Service volunteer, and barista. They read almost all of the emails sent to tk at tkrex dot wtf, and occassionally send out a newsletter with upcoming events, publication announcements, and recommended reads. It's short. You'll like it. Sign up.

SHORT FICTION

Growing Swirling Clouds
Apex, issue 145, July 2024
Bards & Sages Quarterly, vol. XI, issue IV
TERSE., February 2019
A robot named Coral cares for the last elder left behind in orbit after a generation ship reaches its destination.
 
Davu the Explorer and the Druid Tía Yara
Roses & Wildflowers, Spring 2024
A solarpunk story about a boy's adventure gone wrong, and the biases about merged technology-biology his community must overcome as they search for him.

The Hen and the Shadow of the Monstrance Street Commune
Haven Speculative, January 2024
It's 1993 in Northern California. A shadow in the commune garden wonders what it means to be a monster.

Water, Which Laughs At All Things
New Edge Sword & Sorcery, Issue 2, December 2023
In a drought-ridden land, an ancient sorceress, a gladiator poet, and a mostly-reformed thief must rescue a watertender from a despot and his agricultural folly.

Hi From Shelling Point
Utopia Science Fiction Magazine, October/November 2023
An astronaut waits around a black hole for every planet in the galaxy to die, except for one.
 
A Layer Thin As Breath
Escape Pod 907, 2023
Best Vegan Science Fiction and Fantasy of 2019
Metaphorosis, July 2019
Exopaleontologist Valley Viridian struggles to communicate with a space cobweb as it drags her to a desolate moon.

A Lot Full of Weeds
Little Blue Marble, September 2023
A San Francisco tech worker tosses a seed bomb into the empty lot across the street from her apartment in the Tenderloin. It's, uh, not an ordinary seed bomb.

Margot, the Clouds Will Part Again For Us
Dreams & Nightmares, September 2023
A poem in conversation with Ray Bradbury's All Summer in a Day. (Available in the print issue only.)
Ravens Made of Lichen, with Beaks of Black Basalt 
Typehouse, Volume 10, No. 1, Issue 27
Alana's dad is going back to Earth to find a mermaid he had a fling with in college. Alana doesn't want to leave Mars. Can she make it on her own?

Saltwater Rinse
Club Chicxulub Journal, 2023
A resident of downtown San Francisco needs to make this mouth in her knee stfu before it incites a riot.

The Six Years I Spent With You On Chenhablimesh
Uncharted Magazine, 2023
Memories of a relationship with an extraterrestrial come flooding back after watching a viral video.

Squawker and Dolphin Swimming Together
Reckoning 7
A team of scientists and a wild dolphin strive for a communication breakthrough in the midst of climate chaos.

The Roots in the Box and the Roots in the Bones
Asimov's Science Fiction, January/February 2023
A ranger escorts a desperate husband into the AI-managed wilderness to find his missing ecologist wife. (Available in the print issue only.)
A Holdout in the Northern California Designated Wildcraft Zone
Grist, Imagine 2200: Climate Fiction for Future Ancestors, 2022 collection
A curious drone faces an ethical dilemma when an old woman refuses to make way for rewilding.

The Beast of the Shadow Gum Trees
New Edge Sword & Sorcery, issue 0
Moth gave up immortality for love, lost it all, & threw himself into the sea. Now he's on a strange, new shore, at the edge of cursed wood...

The Hall of Being
Luna Station Quarterly, issue 051
To answer a young gatherer’s question about a foreign belief system, a new spiritual leader begins a psychedelic quest for truth.

And in Her Sleep, She Cooed
The Molotov Cocktail, vol. 13, issue 1
A San Francisco pigeon finds herself naked and flightless in a parking garage.

Gentle Dragon Fires
Strange Horizons, 17 January 2022
A reluctant elder finally claims her birthright to help heal a broken land.

My Favorite Shape Of All
Queer Blades: An Anthology of LGBTQIA2+ Adventure Fanatsy
A cursed shapeshifter seeks revenge on the king — and accidentally falls for the prince.

Ten Years In
Daily Science Fiction, July 20, 2021
Maria from the bakery slips her crush a discount love potion.

The Steak
The Offbeat, vol. 19, Spring 2019
Chrissy and Mark settle in for dinner from their favorite meal delivery app. The dinner has other plans
(available in the print issue only)
Surface Tension
JMWW, July 2018
A barista with a crush on a customer is spectacularly unaware of what’s in store for them.

Open letter to the tech bro who spat at me, from that pigeon eating a noodle on Market Street
Art + Marketing, March 2016
We’re not “rats with wings.” We’re dinosaurs with wings. You’re rats with messenger bags.

PRAISE FOR GENTLE DRAGON FIRES

"Taking on climate change and climate action in interesting speculative ways, it imagines a voice worn down to a whisper, but still audible to those willing to listen." — Charles Payseur, Locus

"...you are entering a fever-dream, but it is a cozy one, with birds, and fantastic architecture, and dragon’s eggs, and food. A wonderful, fresh take on fantasy short fiction. Yes please." — Bibliotheca Luminis

  

FOR THE BEAST OF THE SHADOW GUM TREES

"‘Beast’ has the haunting qualities of Ursula K. LeGuin’s works, by way of Richard Powers’ The Overstory.” — Anthony Perconti, Schlock! Webzine

"...it just may be the best story featuring a unicorn that I’ve read in decades. It’s beautifully written in a classic style that is at the same time very readable." — Dave Brzeski, SFcrowsnest

 

FOR THE ROOTS IN THE BOX AND THE ROOTS IN THE BONES

"There was a really interesting premise, a cool vision, and some nice writing there, especially at the end. Glad I had the chance to read it." — C. C. Finlay

 

INTERVIEWS AND PRESS

The Authors of Issue 145: T.K. Rex
Apex Magazine Patreon, July 23, 2024
A photographic essay about place, writing, and generation ships. Created by T. K. Rex for Apex Magazine as part of their series on The Authors of Issue 145.
 
Chatting with Dolphins (and Author T. K. Rex)
Bright Green Futures, Episode 2, March 28, 2024
T.K. Rex in conversation with Susan Kaye Quinn about communicating with the non-human; the interface between ourselves, nature, and technology; and T. K.'s solarpunk stories, namely "Squawker and Dolphin Swimming Together" and "A Lot Full of Weeds."

Seven SFF Stories Featuring Rebellions Big and Small
Tor.com, Dec 6, 2023, by Ratika Deshpande
Featuring a short review of “A Holdout in the Northern California Designated Wildcraft Zone” by T.K. Rex.

Hopepunk Panel
Watertown Free Public Library, January 24, 2023
T. K. Rex discusses the emerging hopepunk genre with fellow authors Renan Bernardo, Brianna Castagnozzi, and Susan Kaye Quinn. 
 
Finding and Breaking Utopia
From Earth to the Stars: The Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine Author & Editor Blog, January 12, 2023
To build the world of The Roots in the Box and the Roots in the Bones, T.K. Rex devoured books about California’s natural history. In this post, she discusses the horror and revelations of an epic deep dive.
 
New Edge Authors Say Hello
So I’m Writing a Novel, Episode 53, Oct. 9, 2022
T. K. Rex chats with Oliver Brackenbury, editor of New Edge Sword and Sorcery, about writing The Beast of the Shadow Gum Trees for issue 0 while attending the Clarion Writers Workshop.
 
Wyrd Question Daze: T. K. Rex
Wyrd Daze, Nov. 27, 2022, by Leigh Wright
T. K. Rex muses on the tiny UFO that flew through her kitchen when she was five, and other stuff.
 
The Hopefulness of Destruction
Woke AF Daily, Nov 15, 2022
T. K. Rex and Danielle Moodie discuss the nature of hopeful fiction in the climate crisis.
 
Interview with Thea Boodhoo
Writing Off The Deep End, Episode 25, July 5, 2020
T. K. Rex (whose nonfictional name is Thea Kinyon Boodhoo in case you were wondering about that) (also it's pronounced "tay-ah") has a chat with Mary Thaler and Geoffrey Edwards about writing and the research process for a novel that later became The Roots in the Box and the Roots in the Bones.
 

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© T.K. REX 2023 MADE IN SOMA | v1.01